The Suck Zone

"The Suck Zone". It's the point basically when the twister... sucks you up. That's not the technical term for it, obviously.

- Quot by the character Dusty from the movie "Twister"


At mile 10 of my 13 mile long run this morning, I came across friends Tony, Miranda and Michael having coffee at the St. Bart's sidewalk cafe along A1a. They had been doing bike hill repeat on the 17th Street bridge, our only real hill in flat as a pancake Fort Lauderdale. It was only polite to stop, talk and have a cup of Joe. After we talked about Miranda and Michael's trip to Paris and our respective upcoming tri events, talk turned to upcoming registrations. As most of you know, Ironman events sell out fast and you have to consider signing up a year in advance. You pretty much have to do so the day after the current year's event, which is when registration opens for the following year.

Miranda is signed up for IM Canada in August. Miranda is a strong 30 something triathlete in her prime. She had tried to get me to sign up for IM Cananda for this year, but registration had closed out. Like me, Miranda likes to get a group going to athletic events to make a good time even more fun. So the conversation turned to IM Coeur d'Alene. Registration opens on Monday, July 28th. Miranda and another IM friend Jerry had pitched Coeur d'Alene previously at a Memorial Day BBQ at Tony's. As we left the cafe, we wished each other good luck on our respective events. Miranda and Michael are doing the Vancouver Half IM on July 4th. I mentioned that I love Vancouver and would like to do another event in that city. Miranda then tries to sweeten the IM Coeur d'Alene registration pot by saying: "You know, Coeur d'Alene is not far from the Canadian boarder. We could make a side trip." Man, is she good.

Another friend, Maria had pitched signing up for IM Frankfurt, which takes place in early July. This all just got me looking at the IM events calender on the IM website. IM Switerland in late July has always caught my eye. I mentioned both Maria's plans and IM Switerland as counter proposals to Miranda. I explained that I like the idea of an event in Europe. I've done several marathons in Europe and find combining an athletic event with touring to be fun.

Later at work, I get an e-mail from our friend Carrie, who recently relocated to Austin, TX. Turns out the IM organization just announced IM Texas, a new IM event just outside of Houston, TX in an area called "The Woodlands" set for next May 21st. Registration opens tomorrow. Great. Even more options to consider.

Perhaps I can do some horse trading and get some of my friends to consider signing up for the JFK 50 miler in November and the October 2nd Rock Creek Stump Jump 50K I'm considering doing as a run up to the 50 miler.

In any event, I'm feeling the pull of my friends various registration plans. I'm in the "Suck Zone" and will most likely be pulled into registering for another full IM in the next couple of weeks. I don't know whether I should try to run away from these forces, or just let the winds take me. The pull is just too strong.